Review

When it comes to music classifications, people come up with some pretty weird genres. With tags like “trash metal”, “troll metal” and worst of all “whalecore”, it’s a wonder how anyone takes the genre seriously anymore. Of course to go along with such horrid titles, it is not very often that anything worth note rises from these fictitious scenes. Coming from a genre curiously titled “war metal”, many would think that Nova Scotia based band Hellacaust (which once again is a pretty ridiculous name) would apply to this unwritten rule. However upon listening to their third album Disgust the only conclusion that can drawn from the band is that they fucking slay, and pretty damn hard at that.

So, you may be wondering, what exactly does war metal sound like? If Disgust is a viable example, then it is another offshoot of black metal, albeit much more and intense and many times more technical. Instead of depending solely on the tried and true tremolo picking technique, songs like opener “Whore” display guitarists Hell Bastard and Crucifuck providing spastic guitar lines, weaving intricate disharmonious melodies with more traditional black metal guitars. Open to showing some variety, “The Same Old Shit rages with the crude soul of crust punk, while “Feeding the Soul” borrows the dissonant gallop of thrash. Despite the fact that the music is harsh and in your face, it retains a weird sense of accessibility that only furthers its enjoyability . Vocalist Necromancer's fast paced delivery owes just as much to hardcore as it does to black metal with his harrowing vocals displayed best on schizophrenic closer “What We Say Is Real”. On it, his high pitched hardcore influenced screech is matched by his just as excellent gutturals. Unwilling to fall by the wayside, drummer Hellspawn proves to be just as versatile as his bandmates; from simplistic d-beat drumming to thrashy double bass rumbling to lightning speed blast beats, there isn’t a moment on Disgust where the seemingly eight armed drummer isn’t pounding the shit out of his kit.

For anyone looking for more intense, technical black metal, then this is an album for you. If you’re looking for something that sonically smashes you in the face with a sledgehammer, then this is an album for you. So, for this once, ignore all your instincts to reject an album classified as “war metal” and get Disgust immediately.

I know you want to tell us that we are wrong
And I see it's just your own fear driving that thought
And I still would not have had it any other way
Finding fault in us is what will keep you sane

You could classify a bit of their music as such. I'm just saying that music has nothing to do with the whole genre because how would you classify it when it branches out over death, black, and thrash metal?